Arthur Lovegrove Movies
Based on the acclaimed novel by Doris Lessing, this dystopian science fiction tale concerns a woman struggling to make her way in a post-apocalyptic society. D (Julie Christie) is living in a city that's at the point of collapse following a catastrophic nuclear war; lawlessness and violence rule the day, and gangs of brutal youth roam the streets. With the help of her teenage companion Emily (Leonie Mellinger), D tries to make her way, and in order to cope, she often escapes into a fantasy world in which she lives in genteel Victorian surroundings in the 19th century. Memoirs of a Survivor received the International Fantasy Film Award and the Audience Jury Award at Portugal's 1982 Fantasporto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, Christopher Guard, (more)
Having already been seen spying for the Nazis in 1979's The Eagle Has Landed, Donald Sutherland once more infiltrates wartime England on behalf of Der Fuhrer in Eye of the Needle. Willing to kill even the most innocent of bystanders to complete his task, Sutherland manages to remain in Britain until the eve of D-Day in 1944. Discovering that the invasion is to take place on Normandy, Sutherland scurries to rendezvous with a U-boat off the treacherous Isle of Storms. His mission is thwarted by Kate Nelligan, the frustrated wife of paralyzed RAF commander Christopher Cazenove. Though having fallen in love with Sutherland, Nelligan nonetheless prepares to turn the man in when he kills her husband. Tension mounts in the closing scene as Sutherland races against time to (a) make contact with the U-boat and (b) stop Nelligan before she blows the whistle on him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, (more)
- 1970
- R
Like Socrates of ancient Athens, Michael Rimmer (Peter Cook) of modern England believes the key to success is to ask the right questions. Lots of questions. So he gets a job with an advertising agency that conducts polls, rises swiftly through the ranks, and eventually runs the agency. Then he bombards England with questions. His ingenious system enables him to predict the outcome of a general election. (Every voter in England had received a questionnaire.) So accomplished is Rimmer at asking questions that he finds his future wife through market research. To insure that he gets the right answers, Rimmer is not above manipulating the polls. For example, when he asks residents of Coventry their religion, 95 percent identify themselves as Buddhists, thanks to an influx of Rimmer stooges. Then he enters politics. In a short time, he gets himself elected to Parliament, becomes a cabinet minister and eventually moves into Ten Downing Street as prime minister after pushing the incumbent prime minister off an oil platform. By this time, every eligible voter in Britain can cast ballots with a television remote control. Alas, the electorate tires of the endless referendum questions that they must answer as part of their daily routine. This development serves only to catapult Rimmer to further success, for the people decide to place all decisions in his hands as dictator of England. So Rimmer keeps rising and rising and rising. And asking questions. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cook, Denholm Elliott, (more)
The famously inept but accidentally brilliant Inspector Clouseau returns to help foil a group of daring robbers in this comedy, the only film in the long-running series not to feature Peter Sellers as the bumbling inspector. Instead, the talented Alan Arkin assumes the role, blundering his way through the expected series of absurd, slapstick situations. The plot centers on a series of Swiss bank robberies under investigation by an uptight Scotland Yard inspector (Patrick Cargill), who naturally becomes infuriated by Clouseau's unwelcome intervention. Meanwhile, the robbers decide to confuse matters by wearing Clouseau masks, offering further opportunities for farcical mistaken identities. Due to the absence of both Sellers and director Blake Edwards, Inspector Clouseau has largely been forgotten in comparison to the other Pink Panther films, though it maintains some interest as a curious aberration in the popular comic series. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, Frank Finlay, (more)
- 1967
Smashing Time attempts to turn British actresses Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave into a female Laurel and Hardy. The film's second mistake is to prolong the joke for 96 minutes. Tushingham and Redgrave play a couple of dimwitted North Country girls who head to London, in hopes of breaking into the mad, mod world of fashion modeling. Instead they spend most of their screen time getting in each other's way and wreaking havoc on innocent pedestrians. The comic "highlight" of Smashing Time is supposed to be a mammoth pie fight; but outside of one cute throwaway gag involving a street minister, the sequence makes one wish, in the words of Laurel and Hardy buff Leonard Maltin, that Smashing Time "had been handled by someone other than [director] Desmond Davis." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
- 1965
Escape by Night was originally released in Great Britain as Clash by Night, which was also the title of the Rupert Croft-Brooke novel on which it was based. Gangster boss Tom Bowman has been arrested and is being transported to prison in a bus containing several innocent "civilians." Bowman's old gang hijacks the bus to rescue their boss, then take refuge in an old barn. The gang holds off the authorities by threatening to torch the barn and all its occupants. The climactic conflagration is predictable, but its outcome isn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Longdon, Jennifer Jayne, (more)
- 1964
Unable to assassinate a British traitor, the government is forced to deal with the man in an upcoming round of arms negotiations. Though he despises the assignment, Steed must protect the traitor from harm. He has his work cut out for him. The man originally assigned to kill the turncoat, long thought dead, is alive and well, and he intends to fulfill his deadly mission. Written by Philip Chambers, "The Outside-In Man" originally aired in England on February 22, 1964; the episode made its American cable TV debut on April 2, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this thriller, an carefully engineered bank robbery goes awry. The plan is masterminded by an American visiting Britain; his accomplices are three unstable fellows. Things go wrong when they must kill the night watchman and kidnap his daughter. They then flee to their secret lair to await the getaway boat. Two days pass and the boat does not come. More trouble ensues when the American finds himself deeply attracted the young woman, and she to him even after he rapes her. He then begins trying to protect her from the others. This makes the men feel slighted; enraged, they decide to steal the loot and a fight ensues. It is a brutal battle and as they tussle, the old building begins to collapse. All of the criminals die. The American dies while saving the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
An ex-con turned truck driver is able to find out that the kidnapper's vehicle had counterfeit plates giving the police their only lead in a child's kidnapping case. ~ All Movie Guide
This comedy features a 12-step Program for habitual hoods. The recovering criminal takes a job as a department store Santa, and again finds himself confronted with temptation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This was the last film for British director Wendy Toye whose special interests were always comedies and fantasies. In this light farce, the talented Kenneth More is Lt. Commander Bodger, a man with a penchant for honesty in moments when silence is much more diplomatic. Bodger offends the Navy higher-ups, and so he is first sent to work in Dartmouth, training cadets. That does not really keep him out of trouble and so the Navy, in desperation, sends him to work as a liaison officer with the American Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, Bodger goes with three aides that are just like him, and they create havoc -- made much worse when a revolution begins in one of the nearby countries. The British foursome get inadvertently mixed up in the events, never really knowing exactly what they are doing until the dust settles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1960
This is the film version of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in which Hyde is the handsome, clean-shaven one. Though top-billed Christopher Lee, portraying a caddish playboy, was the beneficiary of all the ad publicity, it is Paul Massie who plays Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The "horror" in the film is mostly sociological, with Jekyll learning first hand of the corruption lurking beneath the respectable facade of the Victorian Era. His metamorphosis into Hyde is meant as an allegory to the evils of drug addiction, another "don't ask--don't tell" element of 19th century London. In still another departure from the Stevenson original, Jekyll becomes Hyde not because he can't control his alter ego, but because he wants to exact revenge on Christopher Lee, who has been siphoning off Jekyll's savings to finance his own gambling and womanizing. In contrast to Stevenson's story, Jekyll/Hyde does not die--though the strain of being Hyde has permanently scarred Jekyll's psyche. Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll was originally released in Britain as House of Fright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Massie, Dawn Addams, (more)
- 1960
This is a routine tale about the vice squad versus pornographer and blackmailer Augie Cortona (Terence Morgan). After the petty criminal gets out of prison, he discovers his old partners in crime are not interested in him anymore, and the prostitution ring he once bossed is controlled by someone else. His solution is to set up a fake photographer's and model's studio during the day that becomes a place where porno photo men can do their work at night, as call girls engage in their trade with unsuspecting customers. The photographs bring in extra lucre through a blackmail scheme -- Cortona makes the hookers' clients pay to keep their activities quiet. As he is building up this racket, a gangland boss is out to get him -- and so is the vice squad. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Morgan, Hazel Court, (more)
- 1959
Naked Fury is a 60-minute British crime quickie. Four robbers kill a night watchman while knocking over a warehouse. They kidnap the daughter (Leigh Madison) of the murdered man and hole up in a squalid shack. One of the robbers (Kenneth Cope) falls in love with the hostage, triggering a falling out with his fellow crooks. Final score: Hostage 1, Crooks 0. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Perhaps in an earlier era or in some remote village, this comedy would work, but this story about two mixed-up identities during World War II is comedically outdated. Brian Rix has the dual role of an Air Force officer who is going on an important military mission to France. The brass decide to hoodwink the Germans by finding the officer's double (an idiot latrine-cleaner at an Air Force base) and putting him on a plane to Cairo. As events unfold, the two men get mixed up, and each heads off to the other's destination, giving rise to several absurd tangles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Rix, Cecil Parker, (more)
- 1959
In this crime drama, a gentle old woman finds herself involved in a murder after she dials a wrong number and overhears a murderer telling how he killed a man during a robbery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
The scene is Burma during World War II. A small British brigade led by Stanley Baker comes upon a Burmese village controlled by the Japanese. The brigade wipes out the enemy, whereupon Baker discovers that the late Japanese commandant has a coded map secreted on his person. When a Burmese prisoner who can decode the map refuses to talk, Baker orders that two peaceful villagers be executed. Baker's actions seem cruel and extreme until it becomes apparent that the enemy is twice as ruthless as he. Based on a TV play by Peter R. Newman, Yesterday's Enemy is a brutal but insightful look at the blurred line between good and evil in wartime conditions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, (more)
- 1958
In his all too brief life, director Henry Cornelius became the principal standard-bearer of genteel whimsy in British films. Cornelius' Next to No Time (based on a story by Paul Gallico) stars Kenneth More as a milquetoast engineer who has lost a lot of professional and personal opportunities because of his unwillingness to assert himself. While on a cruise across the Atlantic, More notices that the wall clock in the ship's bar is standing still. The bartender explains that the clock is always halted for an hour each day in order to coordinate with the International Date Line. Emboldened by the notion that anything is possible when time stands still, More sheds his inhibitions, improves his lot in life, and wins the love of an American girl (Betsy Drake). While not as remarkable a comic achievement as Henry Cornelius' Genevieve, Next to No Time is perfect "wish fulfillment" TV fare for a rainy afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Betsy Drake, (more)
- 1958
This British WW II drama takes place in the wilds of Tunis. Major Gerrard (Leo Genn) is ordered to lead a desperate mission to capture a Nazi-held farmhouse. Despite the fact that this undertaking is tantamount to committing suicide, Gerrard has no trouble rounding up volunteers. There's a bit too much of the old "stiff upper lip" in the dialogue, though the action sequences are first-rate and believable. Of interest to modern viewers is the presence in the cast of Michael Caine; he isn't billed, and barely has a line, but he's instantly recognizable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieron Moore, Michael Medwin, (more)
- 1957
Break in the Circle is one of several late-1950s British films given American distribution by 20th Century-Fox. Forrest Tucker heads the cast as American soldier of fortune Skip Morgan, who is hired by German millionaire Baron Keller (Marius Goring). The baron wants Skip to smuggle a Polish scientist out of East Germany and into England. Our hero agrees, little knowing that the greedy Baron is pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with freedom and democracy. Eva Bartok plays the requisite mystery woman who, like the baron, hides her true intentions from Morgan until the very end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1957
The grass is always greener.... In this British comedy, two drunken comrades find out the truth of that saying when they decide to trade places for a while. One of the boozers is a public relations man who knows nothing about sailing, while the other is a captain for the Royal Navy. Riotous comic mayhem ensues as the hapless "captain" tries to run his ship and follow orders. When the bumbling fellow's inadvertence sinks one of the fleet's own ships, he ends up locked in a rubber room until the two manage to extort someone into helping them resume their rightful identities. The film was originally titled The Ship was Loaded, and bears no relation to the popular "Carry On" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tomlinson, Peggy Cummins, (more)
- 1957
The Weapon is a loose grouping of elements first seen in the 1951 British melodrama The Yellow Balloon. Jon Whitely plays a young London boy who finds a loaded gun in a blitzed-out building. He fires, accidentally shooting a playmate. Believing he's killed his friend, the boy runs away--leading to a relentlessly suspenseful climax. Though filmed in England, The Weapon was geared from the start for primarily American audiences; its producer was Hollywood's own Hal E. Chester, and its adult stars included Steve Cochran and Lizabeth Scott. The script was written by Fred Freiberger, best known to sci-fi followers as the producer of the original Star Trek's third and final season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Cochran, Lizabeth Scott, (more)
- 1956
The Way Out was originally released in Great Britain as Dial 999. The eponymous telephone number is the emergency line to Scotland Yard, which in this film is represented by detective John Bentley. Hollywood's Gene Nelson plays a philandering husband who tries to hide the fact that he's killed a man. Nelson's wife Mona Freeman and brother-in-law Michael Goodliffe concoct an elaborate scheme to evade the authorities, but it all proves futile in the film's ironic climax. Assembled by Merton Park productions, the low-budget firm later responsible for Edgar Wallace mysteries, Dial 999 was spun off into a 39-week TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Nelson, Mona Freeman, (more)
- 1956
This tense, uncompromising African actioner affords Victor Mature one of his best screen roles. When his family is wiped out by Mau Mau insurrectionists, white hunter Mature assembles an expedition to track down the tribal leader responsible for the massacre. The British authorities don't want Mature to foment further difficulty by seeking revenge, so they revoke his hunting license. Still, he manages to embark upon his justice-seeking safari by hiring himself out as a guide for millionaire lion hunter Roland Culver and Culver's fiancee Janet Leigh. The grimness of the proceedings is occasionally leavened by an incongruously upbeat musical score. Safari was photographed on location by Ted Moore and directed by Terence Young, who'd later collaborate on the James Bond epic Thunderball (1965). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1955
An 18-month-old baby disappears in London. The parents, US embassy worker David Knight and his wife Julia Arnall, are panic-stricken. Detective David Farrar tries to locate the child, but clues are scarce. At the last possible moment, Farrar rescues the infant from a grueling fate and collars the kidnappers. This nail-biting film is filled to capacity with many of Britain's top supporting players, including Thora Hird, Everley Gregg, Joan Sims, Shirley Anne Field, Joan Hickson, Dandy Nichols, Mona Washbourne, Barbara Winsor and George Woodbridge. Released in the US by Republic, under the title Tears for Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, David Knight, (more)
